With the availability of lower-cost digital display screens, including flat-panel liquid crystal displays (LCD) and light-emitting diode (LED) displays, the use of digital screens to display digital “signs” has grown significantly in recent years. For example, digital signs that display electronic content can be found at most indoor and outdoor public spaces, including transportation stations, airports, museums, stadiums, retail stores, hotels, restaurants, corporate buildings, and other public venues. Such signs can be used for a variety of purposes, from wayfinding to marketing and advertising.
In addition to providing static content like that provided on painted billboard signs, digital signs advantageously allow the display of dynamic content, including context-dependent dynamic content, i.e., content that changes based on the contextual environment in which the sign is displayed. For example, a digital sign can be configured with context-dependent content that displays a bathing suit ad during the day and a pillow ad at night.
Although digital signs are very useful, authors of electronic content for digital signs are often unable to adequately know how their created content will actually appear on the digital signs for several reasons. First, many digital signs have large layouts, have unusual dimensions or aspect ratios, use multiple screens to display a single image, and/or have other display characteristics and constraints that present content in ways that differ from how the content appears on other devices, such as on a small laptop screen (which authors often use to develop the electronic content). Second, the context-dependent nature of much of the electronic content that is used on digital signs makes it difficult for authors to see if the electronic content is performing as expected in those different contexts. For example, to ensure that context-dependent content is correctly configured to display a bathing suit ad during the day and a pillow ad at night on a digital sign, the author must conventionally check the content during the day and wait until night to check the content again.
Because of these compounding challenges and constraints—i.e., the unpredictable layout and screen sizes of digital signs and the display of context-dependent content—simulation of electronic content on a user's screen is not adequate. In other words, it is not really possible to replicate the content of a digital sign on the content author's screen. As such, the author of the electronic content will never actually know what will be eventually displayed on a digital sign, even with a simulation. Authors of electronic content for digital signs thus usually lack confidence that the end result of their efforts will be what they expect. And even when simulations are attempted, such as with the user's device acting as the display, such attempted simulations are usually cluttered with numerous control buttons and other features that obscure the attempted simulation view.